BREAKING NEWS

Woman says officers knocked out teeth, left her half naked during arrest

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. - A central Florida woman has filed a lawsuit against two Lake County law enforcement agencies, claiming officers knocked out her teeth and left her half naked in full view of others during an arrest.

WFTV's Kenneth Craig learned the arrest happened during Leesburg Bike Week last April, but the lawsuit wasn't filed until Tuesday.

Craig spoke to the victim, Ashleigh Davis, on Tuesday.

Davis and a friend were arrested on charges of being drunk and disorderly at Leesburg's Bike Week 2011. She doesn't dispute that, but what happened during her arrest she's calling excessive and humiliating.

Video from a police department holding cell shows Davis topless on the floor with her legs and arms cuffed with eight male officers standing by.

"(They) handcuffed my hands to my feet and then took a tie and tied it around, then carried me like a suitcase and threw me on the back of a golf cart," Davis said.

She said her bikini top came off and she was hogtied, and led through the crowd topless before being taken to the Leesburg Police Department.

Pictures of her chipped teeth and bruised body were taken afterwards. Reports show Davis was kicking and fighting with the officers and even bit one and drew blood, before she tried to bite a deputy's leg.

In the video, an officer is seen holding her face to the ground and that's when Davis claims he knocked her teeth out.

"I just remember him grabbing me from behind, my hair, and going like this (covers mouth) and then I try to bite, and then they grabbed me by the back of my head and slammed my face down," said Davis.

Davis said she filed a complaint right after the incident.

On Tuesday, her attorney filed a lawsuit against the Lake County Sheriff's Office and the Leesburg Police Department, alleging excessive force.

WFTV found out Davis has been arrested at least twice before, including on charges of criminal mischief.

But she told WFTV that didn't give officers any excuse to treat her the way they did.

WFTV contacted both law enforcement agencies but neither wanted to comment.

This is the second controversy in less than a week for the Leesburg Police Department.

Last week, an officer there was put on leave after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman who he arrested. Police launched an internal investigation, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was called in to do a criminal investigation. Both are still ongoing.